Four Die in Plane Crash at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow

Four people were killed today when a
plane flying into Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport from the Czech city
of Pardubice caught fire after crashing through a runway
barrier.

“The plane rolled past the runway while landing and ran
into a barrier, damaging a wing and setting it on fire,”
Gennady Bogachyov, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said by
telephone.

The plane was carrying eight passengers, all crew members.
Four of the injured are being treated in Moscow hospitals,
Bogachyov said. One of those to die was a 27-year-old woman who
succumbed to her injuries after being taken to a city hospital,
Interfax reported, citing an unidentified person at the Moscow
health department.

A Tu-204 plane overshot the runway on Dec. 21 at Tolmachevo
airport in Novosibirsk because of a malfunction with the brakes,
Rosaviatsiya, Russia’s state airline watchdog, said in an e-
mailed statement. Rosaviatsiya had warned OAO Tupolev (TUPL), the
manufacturer of the plane, on Dec. 28 about the malfunction, the
agency said.

Investigation Ordered

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered an
investigation of the crash and named Transportation Minister
Maxim Sokolov to head the probe, the government’s official
website said.

The prosecutor’s office of the city of Moscow has also
opened an investigation against Red Wings Airline, the office
said on its website.

Lebedev promised to provide all necessary assistance to
families of the plane’s crew, he said in a Twitter posting
today. The airplane was insured for $28 million while each crew
member was insured for $10,000, OAO Sogaz, the insurer, said in
a statement on its website.